Mar. 21, 2013

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OK, transit supporters. Go ahead. Let out a collective sigh of relief. Maybe even a cheer or two.

But don’t get a big head over Wednesday’s 7-2 victory in the state Senate’s Local Government Committee. That’s because now, the real fun and games are about to begin. (That was sarcasm.)

Up next, the bill heads to the Senate’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee — a skeptical bunch of politicians if one ever existed. And if the bill passes there, it will go to the full Senate, which will be even trickier.

The Indiana House, by comparison, was a breeze.

But one crisis at a time. So let’s start with the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee.

Here’s a list of hurdles:

1. We’ve got Sen. Luke Kenley.

The Noblesville Republican recently decided to withdraw sponsorship of the bill, which would let voters in Hamilton and Marion counties decide whether to raise their income taxes by $10 to $15 a month to pay for expanded transit.

Kenley’s reason? He’s concerned about the cost. He’s also not sure whether Hamilton County voters are “ready.” That last bit is based on the results of an unscientific survey on his website that found 53 percent of voters (502 people) oppose a tax hike for transit while 47 percent of voters (446 people) would support it.

The survey appears to be an excuse for Kenley to do what he wanted to do anyway, which is not support the bill. After all, the results are close — and the public relations blitz to educate the public hasn’t started yet.

The problem is that Kenley serves on the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee and is chairman of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee. That means he has the power and the position to derail the transit bill if he wants.

2. We’ve got the tea party.

I had wondered when those folks would show up.

Well, they have now — with money to spend. They’re in the Indiana Statehouse this week, talking to senators. Their arguments are what you might expect: higher taxes are bad, construction would be too expensive and the upgraded system might require more money to operate down the road.

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“Anything that we do with taxpayer money ought to at least break even,” said Dwight Lile of the Carmel-based group Constitutional Patriots.

I won’t go into how almost all public infrastructure is paid for with tax dollars, including highways, and how those projects often don’t come close to meeting financial projections. I-69 anyone?

But the truth is that the anti-tax, anti-transit sentiment is picking up steam. Sure, nearly 160 local organizations voiced support for the transit bill on Wednesday, and only about five spoke out against it. But my Twitter feed is alight with those who want the bill stopped in its tracks.

The tea party will not go away.

3. We have ambivalent senators from Central Indiana.

So Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, doesn’t like the idea of transit at all. Like Kenley, he says he’s opposed to it based on the results of his own unscientific survey of his district. He found that 47 percent of residents want mass transit and 53 percent don’t.

Others, such as Sen. Greg Taylor, an Indianapolis Democrat, have been fence-sitters on the issue in the past. And Taylor is a co-sponsor of the bill!

What’s a transit supporter to do about all of these problems?

First, contact your senator. Tell him or her to back the transit bill and that you want a right to vote on it. Second, tell everyone you know to do the same.

But ultimately, what we need are senators like Travis Holdman. A Republican on the Local Government Committee, he’s not from Central Indiana, but he understands that people of Marion and Hamilton counties need to decide this issue for themselves.

“I realize that mass transit will never come to Markle, Indiana. Mass transit is when we have three or more people in our car,” Holdman joked before casting his vote. “We’re empowering local folks to make some decisions. I like that.”